Oven Baked Meatballs

You’ll love these juicy and tender Italian style baked meatballs in your favorite marinara sauce. Super simple and surprisingly quick, these flavorful meatballs will be on your plate in under an hour.

An Easy Baked Meatballs Recipe

Baked meatballs make me think of Sunday afternoons. Making a big pot of tomato sauce and rolling out yummy Italian meatballs to go with it just screams Sunday afternoon to me.

While I do like making meatballs on a Sunday afternoon, I don’t want you to confuse that for them being difficult to make or that they take all day. I think that’s a pretty common misconception and one of the reasons frozen meatballs are so dang popular. I promise, they are not labor intensive at all.

Seriously, though, there is something so relaxing about zoning out and rolling meatballs between your hands. 🤷‍♀️ The time flies and before you know it, you’re gobbling them up.

Recipe Ingredients

Homemade meatballs are so comforting and really hit the spot. With a little planning ahead of time, having these ingredients on hand will be no problem at all!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Stale bread

milk

ground beef

ground pork

ground veal (substitute with pork if you can’t find veal)

onion

garlic

eggs

fresh parsley

fresh basil

Italian Seasoning

Salt and pepper

fresh Parmigiano Reggiano

marinara sauce

How to Make Baked Meatballs

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Grease two baking sheets with cooking spray and set them aside.

2. Breadcrumbs: Tear slices of stale bread into pieces. Place them in a food processor and pulse to make chunkier crumbs.

3. Moisten: Combine 2 cups of the bread crumbs with milk in a large mixing bowl. Moisten the bread and let it stand for 5 minutes.

5. Form Balls: Lightly grease your hands with cooking spray and shape meat mixture into meatballs. They should each be about 1-inch to 1.5-inches in size. Transfer the meatballs to your prepared baking sheets.

6. Bake: Bake meatballs for 10 minutes; flip over and bake for 8 more minutes, or until they’re cooked through. Meatballs are done when internal temperature registers at 165˚F. Use an instant read thermometer for accurate results.

7. Warm: While the meatballs are baking, warm the marinara sauce in a deep skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat.

8. Combine: Remove the meatballs from the oven and add them to the warm marinara sauce. Stir to coat and continue to cook over medium-low heat for 3 more minutes.

9. Serve: Remove the deep skillet from the heat. Garnish the meatballs with basil ribbons and Parmesan cheese, then serve.

How Long to Bake Meatballs

You do not, I repeat DO NOT want to over cook your meatballs. 😊This will lead them to be dry and tough. 😐 Trust me when I say, no one wants to eat dry meatballs.

To get your meatballs just right, bake them for about 20 minutes, total. Meatballs are done when they reach an internal temperature of 165˚F. Use an instant read thermometer for the most accurate results.

Serving Ideas

Obviously, you can serve your meatballs over your favorite pasta with marinara sauce. It is a complete meal; done and done.

But, here are some other ways to serve baked meatballs:

On a meatball sandwich or hoagie (for the traditional sandwich, serve on a long roll with marinara and melted cheese. For a hoagie, add shredded lettuce and sliced tomato and onion)

With brown gravy – use a beef based sauce or gravy and serve over egg noodles or mashed potatoes

In baked pasta. Cut your meatballs up and use them in a baked pasta dish.

Pizza topping. Quarter your meatballs and use them as a pizza topping along with pepperoni and sausage for a meat lovers treat!

Burritos. Why not? Cut into smaller pieces, spread them down the middle of a warm tortilla and top with cheese! ✅

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

Since this recipe makes 36 to 40 meatballs, you are definitely going to want to store these bad boys. You can store them in your refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-5 days.

It’s also really easy to freeze your meatballs before you fold them into a sauce. That way, they will be just like having your own store bought frozen meatballs ready for any weeknight dinner. All you need to do is allow them to cool after baking. Instead of popping them in your sauce, pop them in a freezer safe bag and put them in your freezer for up to 3 months.

When ready to serve, simply bring to room temperature and heat in a skillet with your favorite sauce over low until heated through.

FAQs

Meatballs can be a fine science to get just perfect. Whenever I serve my perfect baked meatballs, I always get certain questions about how I got them just right. Here are some of the questions I field most often.

Why are my meatballs tough?

Those meatballs might be tough because they are too dry. Make sure you are using milk in your meatballs to keep them moist and juicy.

Also, be careful not to overcook them! Overcooking them will leave them tough and dry.

What temperature do meatballs need to be cooked at?

Meatballs need to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165˚F. You can use an instant read thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of your meatballs. They should cook in about 18 to 20 minutes in a 400˚F oven.

Lightly grease your hands with cooking spray and shape meat mixture into meatballs; meatballs should be about 1.5-inches in size.

Transfer meatballs to prepared baking sheets.

Bake meatballs for 10 minutes; flip over the meatballs and bake for 8 more minutes, or until just cooked through. Meatballs are done when internal temperature registers at 165˚F. Use an instant read thermometer for accurate results.

While meatballs are baking, warm the marinara sauce in a deep skillet over medium-high heat.

Remove meatballs from oven and add to warm marinara sauce; stir to coat and continue to cook over medium-low heat for 3 more minutes.

Features

Naturals commercial bakeware is made of pure aluminum which will never rust for a lifetime of durability. For sweet or savory baking; from cookies to sheet pan dinners, this is the pan you’ll reach for

Good, standard recipe. For a variation, try using ground italian sausage in place of the pork, along with some minced onion. I also add anise seed to both the meatballs and my sauce. The anise seed really makes it.

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I'm a cookie-maker & picture-taker! For me, eating is a moment to share, an enjoyment, a passion. I hope you enjoy my recipes!